Smoketrees are deciduous shrubs or small trees with yellow wood. Buds have several scales. Leaves are alternate, entire margined, and have long, slender petioles. Flowers are polygamous or dioecious. Fruit is a drupe. Fruiting panicles bear numerous greenish or purplish hairs.
Cotinus coggygria– Common Smoketree
Common Smoketree–Cotinus coggygria
An introduced shrub from Europe and Asia, the smoke tree usually grows to 10—15 feet high with a widespreading, bushy crown. When the bark is stripped from branches and twigs, the wood is yellow with a strong-smelling, juicy sap. This ornamental shrub is usually planted as a specimen for its peculiar fruiting effect. This tree has escaped cultivation in disturbed sites but does not appear to be a threat to native vegetation.
Leaves are alternate, entire-margined, and have long, slender petioles. Foliage is oval and has entire leaf margins. Leaves are 13/4—33/4 inches (41/2—91/2 cm) long and have petioles that are more than 1 inch (25 mm) in length. Foliage is light green to wine (in named cultivars) and smooth.
Flowers are polygamous or dioecious. Flowers are yellow and borne in loose, terminal panicles during June and July. Fruiting panicles are 6—8 inches (15—20 cm) long and contain numerous sterile pedicels furnished with long, spreading purple or green hairs that have the appearance of a hazy smoke, or thin filmy veil covering the foliage when in full bloom. The fruit is a drupe and matures in July and August. The terminal seed head retains its ornamental characteristics into the winter.
Buds are dark, quite small, and have several scales. Wood is distinctively yellow. The plant is too small to have value for lumber.
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